The Function of a Turtle's Tail and an Introduction to Its Main Foods
The turtle, also known as the grass turtle, mountain turtle or mud turtle, is one of the more commonly seen animals of the order Testudines. The turtle is the most ancient reptile, with a hard shell on its body; when attacked, it retracts its head, tail and limbs into the shell. Turtles are distributed across most regions of our country, and yields are relatively high especially in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Let's take a look below at what function a turtle's tail serves and what foods it generally eats as its main diet.
1. What function does a turtle's tail serve?
A turtle's tail has a fairly important function. Although short and small, it can keep the body balanced while crawling and control the direction of crawling, like a ship's rudder, playing a guiding role.
A turtle's tail is also the place where waste is excreted.
A turtle's tail is the site with reproductive function, playing a decisive role during mating. Generally, only when the turtle agrees to mate does the tail move; if it does not agree, the tail will not move.
A turtle's tail is also a good tool for distinguishing males from females. The tail of a male turtle is relatively long, and its base is very thick, like an acute triangle. The tail of a female turtle is shorter, and its base is small and thin, mainly strip-shaped.
Turtles' tails can also become broken. However, this is mostly caused by too high a density during keeping, with turtles biting each other and tails breaking off. A broken tail can also be caused by infection from poor water quality, or by excessive dryness leading to insufficient blood supply to the thin part of the tail and resulting necrosis and tail loss.
If you find that a turtle's tail is broken, disinfect it with iodophor, then apply erythromycin ointment, and soak it in water two to three times a day for about ten minutes each time. Feed it during the soak. Keep this up for about half a month, and it is best to wait until new skin grows out after the tail loss before returning to normal keeping.
2. What foods do turtles generally eat as their main diet?
What food a turtle eats mainly depends on the species you are keeping, so that you can choose suitable food.
According to their living environment, turtles can be divided into five major types: terrestrial turtles, semi-aquatic turtles, aquatic turtles, sea turtles and bottom-dwelling turtles.
Ordinary kept turtles are generally omnivorous animals, usually eating insects, worms, small fish, shrimp, snails, mussels, duckweed, melon rind, tender plant leaves, rice grains, wheat grains, weed seeds, and so on.
Aquatic turtles are omnivorous, most semi-aquatic turtles feed mainly on meat, and most terrestrial turtles are herbivorous.
If you want your turtle to grow quickly, you must pair its food sensibly, for example combining animal foods such as small fish and shrimp with some plant foods such as tender vegetable leaves, so as to achieve balanced nutrition and all-round development, and naturally the growth rate will be somewhat faster.
The above is an introduction to questions such as the function of a turtle's tail and what foods it generally eats as its main diet. We hope it is of some help to you.